A great passage

South Pacific Familyadventure 2008
Claes Brodin
Thu 13 Apr 2017 17:05
Leaving Gibraltar with the outgoing tide (to match the Atlantic incoming current in Gibraltar Strait) and after filling up diesel fuel we encountered some areras of strong current dropping our speed down to 3,5 kts. Once having passed Tarifa coming out on the Atlantic ocean,the current diminished and we all had great night watches.
A fullmoon almost in zenith and a calm ocean is close to perfect for a motortrawler crew. Only backside was some DSC alarms from Tarifa radio waking us all up. It was a pan-pan message regarding a boat with 11 people onboard drifting out of control in Gibraltar Strait(refugees?)
Having a risk of being run down by heavy traffic in the strait at night, ships were alerted about it`s position and coastguard sent for rescue.
In the afternoon coming up to the South Atlantic coast of Portugal (Algarve) we had 26knots of headwinds(Northada) slowing us down to less than 5knots. Increasing to 1700rpms we kept 5,5kts and made landfall in Lagos just after sunset.
It`s an easy entrance and we tied up to visitors pontoon.
Lagos by night is an appealing view from the sea.

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